A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.

Friday, 11 May 2012

New York Antiquity Dealer Threatens Blogger, Then Disappears

.Not so long ago, Subhash Kapoor owner of a Madison
Avenue 'art' gallery (Art of the Past)
was busy trading "fine art and antiquities
from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas". His shop had a huge stock (he says of 5000 items) of sculpture,
painting, and the decorative arts"ranging in date from the 3rd
millennium BC to the early 20th century". His clients included museums
such as the Birmingham Museum of Art.
But then, a very strange thing happened. A few months ago Mr Kapoor
disappeared. Not before threatening fellow blogger Damien Huffer for
asking questions about the origins of certain items in his stock. Then gallery's website closed down. What is going on?

Now
allegations are appearing in the Indian press that the gallery owner
was arrested back in October last year in Germany over alleged
involvement on thefts of sculptures in India. This includes the
"sensational
robbery of a centuries-old emerald idol of Lord Shiva from Sringeri Mutt
in Kalady" three years ago. Kapoor is also "believed to have
masterminded the theft of 18 panchaloha idols from the Arulmigu
Sundareswarar and Varadharaja Perumal temples at Suthamalli village in
Ariyalur district on April 13, 2008". Ajay Kanth reports ('Cops unravel New York link to Sringeri idol theft' Times of India May 9th 2012):

State crime branch officials said
they suspect Subhash Kapoor, an UP-born US citizen and antique smuggler
who runs a gallery in New York, and is the public face of a clandestine
international racket in ancient artefacts. Kapoor is allegedly behind a number of idol heists from Tamil Nadu
as well, and police here surmise that he is involved in the burglary of
five idols, similar to the Sringeri one, from other temples in Kerala. A
report of the economic offences wing of the Tamil Nadu police reveals
that Kapoor runs a private museum [sic] called Art of the Past and an
export company, Nimbus Import Inc, in New York. He specialises in shipping out and selling stolen antiques
to museums, private collectors and dealers through a wide network
ranging across India, Pakistan, Dubai, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. Kapoor was arrested in Germany in October 2011 following a red corner notice issued by the CBI with the help of Interpol.
"We will approach the TN police and are planning to make a joint effort
to extradite him from Germany," a senior crime branch official, who
requested anonymity, told [Times of India]. The TN police
report points out that antique idols were shipped from Chennai harbour
to US in two batches between May and July 2006. Kapoor paid a dollar
equivalent of Rs 1,16,37,694 from his [...] Bank in New York
to an accomplice identified as Sanjivi Asokan, suspected to be his
point man in Chennai. Asokan was earlier arrested by a special team of
the Kerala police in connection with the Sringeri case but it is only
now that they became aware of his link with Kapoor.

An earlier article (R Guhambika, 'Interpol notice for idol thief', Indian Express 12 Aug 2011) indicates that the looting gang contained twelve people and they had all been arrested already. The authorities had been alerted by a tip-off and arranged a 'sting' operation in Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar district, and seized some statues weighing a total of 30 kg and estimated to
be 150 years old. Kapoor himself reportedly managed to get out of the country with some other stolen items. The newspaper adding:

“He also had the impudence to
appear in a glossy magazine, posing for the camera with the stolen idols
of Nataraja and Sivagami in the background,” the officer said. “

Well, let us see if the Indians can get his extradition and whether Mr Kapoor will appear in court. So, what about all those museums and collectors that bought stuff from "Art of the Past" what kind of paperwork did they receive from the dealer guaranteeing that the item was of legitimate origins? Because even if it was, without the paperwork, if Kapoor is convicted a cloud will hang over it when they want to try and get rid of it - unless of course the collector sells it claiming it came from "a New York collection" and leaves it at that. What really hides behind such vague "provenances"?

Personally, I think threatening archaeobloggers tends not to be a good idea. It may start people thinking whether there is indeed something behind what they say, and might even end up getting you arrested.

1 comment:

You're right, Paul, and thanks for expanding on the details of this case and his threats to me. So far, neither Kapoor or anyone claiming to be connected to him has commented on my most recent post or threatened me anew.... Makes me think that this time there's too much evidence pointing his way and idle (idol?) threats won't suffice.

About Me

British archaeologist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Since the early 1990s (or even longer) a primary interest has been research on artefact hunting and collecting and the market in portable antiquities in the international context and their effect on the archaeological record.

Abbreviations used in this blog

"coiney" - a term I use for private collector of dug up ancient coins, particularly a member of the Moneta-L forum or the ACCG

"heap-of-artefacts-on-a-table-collecting" the term rather speaks for itself, an accumulation of loose artefacts with no attempt to link each item with documented origins. Most often used to refer to metal detectorists (ice-cream tubs-full) and ancient coin collectors (Roman coins sold in aggregated bulk lots)